Yeah, in a small grow you generally aren't going to be replicating the style of a larger scale cashcropper who typically has multiple points of light anyway so there is in fact some side lighting on the popsicle.
In a small grow with few plants and only one light, you will want to follow the methods that give a larger surface area exposed to light- top the plant young and train her to spread out fairly flat. You can still remove spindly, small, weak branches that get no light and have such low concentrations of hormones that the plant will hardly notice them gone.